James Cameron’s Net Worth Funds His True Passion: Deep-Sea Exploration

James Cameron is equal parts successful filmmaker and deep-sea explorer.

As the tragedy of the Titan submersible played out earlier in June, many on social media didn’t understand why James Cameron was brought in to discuss the tragic event. What they didn’t know is he is equally as well-versed in deep-sea exploration as he is in making movies.

With a net worth of more than $800 million, he’s successful at nearly everything he attempts. Read his rags-to-riches story to learn how his talents led him to the far corners of creativity and the planet.

Cameron’s Early Life

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Director and ocean explorer James Francis Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on Aug. 16, 1954. He moved with his family to California in 1971 and divided his time between the two countries. He always had a fascination with science and, to a larger degree, science fiction. As a child, he was drawn to the elaborate tales and artwork of pulp magazines.

Cameron went to Cal State Fullerton to study physics, but it didn’t stick. He switched to English before dropping out altogether.

A Truck Driver with a Dream

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After college, Cameron worked as a truck driver, but that wouldn’t be the end of the road for him. As people who come to Los Angeles often do, he had dreams of being a filmmaker. While driving endless hours, he contemplated screenplay ideas — if he liked something, he’d pull over and write it down.

In his off hours, he read all he could about making movies: “I’d go down to the USC library and pull any thesis that graduate students had written about optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology.”

‘Star Wars’ Changed Everything for Cameron

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In 1977, many people were changed by George Lucas’ “Star Wars,” including Cameron. While “Star Wars” became a filmmaking juggernaut, it was made with a limited budget. In this, Cameron saw unlimited possibilities for his own films.

He said of “Star Wars” as he started his journey into film: “I was pissed off. I wanted to make that movie. That’s when I got busy. All I was interested in was visual effects. I didn’t know who Humphrey Bogart was.”

Getting Help from a Consortium of Dentists

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In 1978, Cameron began directing. He wrote, directed and produced his first short, “Xenogenesis,” with help from a consortium of dentists who loaned him $20,000.

He learned as he went, and after that, he took odd jobs on films, all while soaking in more knowledge. He worked for Roger Corman (as many of the directors we know and love today did) as a model maker and art director and served as a production assistant on “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” featuring the Ramones.

Inspired by a Fever Dream, He Wrote ‘Terminator’

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Cameron was working as a replacement director for “Piranha 2: The Spawning,” but that job didn’t last long — he, too, was eventually fired by the production. It was such a stressful experience that he became sick with a fever and dreamed of “an image of a chrome-like skeleton emerging from a fire … The pieces fell into place around that seminal image.”

And, yes, that fever dream was the basis for the T-800 played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Released in 1984, “Terminator” was a smash hit, earning $78.3 million and launching Cameron’s career.

‘Aliens’ and Critical Acclaim Follow

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With a budget of a little over $18 million, Cameron directed “Aliens,” the sequel to the 1979 blockbuster “Alien,” starring Sigourney Weaver. The movie was a critical and audience favorite, earning a whopping $180 million.

“Aliens” received several awards and nominations, including a Best Actress Oscar nod for Weaver. It’s considered one of the best films of the 1980s.

He Almost Died Making ‘The Abyss’

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“The Abyss,” released in 1989, explores a deep-sea diving team’s encounter with other-worldly life forms. Cameron, known for his dedication to realism, wanted to shoot many scenes underwater to achieve authenticity.

The movie was filmed in an abandoned nuclear power plant cooling tank near Gaffney, South Carolina. The cast had to undergo extensive diving training to perform the underwater scenes safely, as did Cameron.

However, while Cameron was fairly deep underwater, he ran out of oxygen (the person who was supposed to be monitoring him left the set). When he stripped off his gear to rise to the surface, a safety diver tried to help him, but he ended up sucking in too much water from the diver’s breathing regulator, which wasn’t working. To break free and breathe, Cameron punched the diver in the face.

Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ Takes Over the 1990s

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To film the story about the doomed ocean liner, Cameron’s dedication to authenticity led him to build a massive replica of the RMS Titanic in Mexico, complete with intricate details (down to the White Star Line stamp on the back of the china.) Cast and crew endured long and grueling shoots in cold water tanks, often in extreme conditions, to capture the realism of the ship’s sinking. But it was all worth it.

In 1997, Cameron’s “Titanic” became one of the highest-grossing films of all time (at $2.264 billion and counting!). It won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

His ‘Avatar’ Movies Are the Biggest Blockbusters of All Time

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The “Avatar” franchise is the biggest of any film franchise to date. Set in the mid-22nd century, the first film, released in 2009, follows Jake Sully, a paraplegic former Marine, who takes part in the Avatar program, which enables humans to explore the distant planet of Pandora and interact with its indigenous Na’vi population remotely (as the planet is toxic to our species.) “Avatar: The Way of Water,” released in 2022, follows the events of the first film more than a decade later.

The first two films are two of the top three highest-grossing films of all time — “Avatar” has made $2.9 billion worldwide, and “Avatar: The Way of Water” has made $2.3 billion thus far. According to Cameron, he has three more sequels ready for release in 2023, 2025 and 2027.

He said, “Some people think of me as a Hollywood guy … (but) I make ‘Avatar’ to make money to do explorations.”

Cameron’s Obsession With Titanic Leads to Deep-Sea Exploration

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Cameron has been fascinated by the ocean since he learned to scuba dive as a teen. He started making the journey to Titanic in 1995 to shoot footage of it for the movie. In total, he’s made 33 trips, most of which occurred after the movie was finished. As he tells it, “I actually calculated [that] I’ve spent more time on the ship than the captain did back in the day.”

He was visiting the ship with actor Bill Paxton when the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred. Their journey to the ship was filmed for Cameron’s 2003 documentary, “Ghosts of the Abyss.”

He Broke the World Record for the Longest Solo Dive

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Titanic wasn’t the last stop in the ocean for Cameron — he is one of only three people to reach the lowest point in the Mariana Trench (known as the Challenger Deep), located 6.8 miles below sea level. He has the distinction of being the only person to make this journey solo.

Cameron’s sub, the DeepSea Challenger (made for $10 million) took about 70 minutes to reach the ocean floor. Once at his intended location, Cameron took samples and noted sea life not known to exist.

‘The Bravest Pioneer’ on ‘South Park’

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“South Park” lampooned Cameron’s deep-sea exploration in a 2012 episode called “Raising the Bar.” In this episode, decency standards have deteriorated, and there’s only one man — Cameron — who can “raise the bar” from the bottom of the ocean.

His crew on the USS James Cameron drops his submersible in the ocean, and his expedition begins, all while playing “The Ballad of James Cameron”:

His name is James, James Cameron
The bravest pioneer
No budget too steep, no sea too deep
Who’s that?
It’s him, James Cameron
James, James Cameron explorer of the sea
With a dying thirst to be the first
Could it be? Yeah that’s him!
James Cameron

On a Reddit AMA, Cameron admitted he had seen the episode: “It’s funny. It’s like they were actually on the expedition, except I didn’t actually make the crew sing a song about me.”

He Is an Authority on the Titan Submersible Tragedy

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When a group of tourists were killed in a submersible while attempting to visit the Titanic wreckage in early June, Cameron was called upon by several news outlets to weigh in on the tragedy.

Cameron was critical of the vessel’s safety and said he had suspected an implosion early on. He compared the Titan disaster to that of the Titanic. “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet, he steamed up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, and many people died as a result … now there’s one wreck lying next to the other wreck for the same damn reason.”

Cameron Is a Staunch Environmentalist

James Cameron and wife Suzy Amis Cameron

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Both Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis, are environmentalists and activists who have a passion for sustainability. Vegans, they partnered with “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson in 2019 to produce plant-based foods in New Zealand.

Nearly a decade earlier, the couple purchased over 2,000 acres of land in the country and began growing organic fruits, nuts and vegetables.

He May Even Attempt to Help Colonize Mars — Or at Least Make a Movie About It

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Cameron is a member of NASA’s Advisory Council and helped the agency build cameras for its Curiosity rover; however, their testing wasn’t ready in time for the launch. But he remains hopeful, saying, “While Curiosity won’t benefit from the 3D motion imaging that the zooms enable, I’m certain that this technology will play an important role in future missions.”

Cameron continues to work with NASA, as he is as passionate about space exploration as he is about the ocean. He is also a member of the nonprofit organization, the Mars Society, which’s main goal is the human colonization of Mars.